My name has brought good luck to Nigeria – President Jonathan

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President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday affirmed that his first name had brought some good luck to Nigeria, despite the security challenges in some parts of the nation.

Jonathan stated this while granting an interview to a 10-year-old Nigerian girl based in California, USA, Miss Zuriel Oduwole, on the sideline of the ongoing 21st ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Africa Union, holding in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Miss Oduwole who was said to have earlier spoken with some other top African leaders is currently working on a documentary on the union’s 50 years of existence.

In the interview, she had asked Jonathan how much his first name had brought to Nigeria.

He said, “Traditional societies attach some values to names. That is why people select good names for their children.

“In the scriptures, sometimes, when God sends you on some special assignment, he could even direct, ‘change the name of this child from this to that.’

“But the name in itself does not make much difference because even from my village, there is one of my peers that also answers Goodluck. Another one that is a little older than me answers Lucky from my small village and I didn’t see the good luck and lucky in them.

“In terms of bringing my name to bear in Nigerian affairs, within this period, we have our challenges. Of course, you are aware that we have our security challenges. But in spite of the security challenges, the country is moving on. I will say yes, it brought some good luck to the country.”

Asked on the legacy he would want to leave behind when his tenure expires, Jonathan said he would like to be remembered for sanitising the nation’s electoral system as well as fixing power and security challenges.

“If we can stabilise the electoral process, sanitise the political environment, then we make sure that we have power in the country and of course, security, every other thing will take off on its own,” the President said.

He added that he would also like the sanitation going on in the electoral system to be internalised in all sectors of the country.

His words, “People should be allowed to decide who governs them, who represents them at the parliament, who runs their affair at the local government level; the country never had that opportunity and the elite were no longer interested even in voting.

“Democracy was almost left floating in the hands of people who ordinarily have no place there. So, we are sanitising the electoral process. Now, Nigerians can select who they want to be their President, who they want to be their governor, who they want to be their senator, who they want to be their House of Representatives member or even their state House of Assembly member or even chairman of their council.

“We are doing that and I want that to be internalised in all the ways we do things. I want people to remember me for that.”

President Jonathan also spoke on his desire to put the nation on a better stead in the area of Information Technology.

According to him, with technological development, power could be stabilised and then, micro, small and medium scale enterprises would be encouraged.

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Oh shut up! Lol. That was a proactive response from the President. Stop the cynicism!

TEZ Finance

you shut up! What do you mean? Must we always make do with a dramatic president? He refused to address the AU Summit because he was busy dilly dallying Dieziani in his hotel room after drinking shekpe all night. Take time o.

Daniel Dalon

Mr President, your name has brought Boko Haram to Nigeria. It has brought an absent president who relishes in overseas trips instead of staying at home to serve the people who elected him. Compare yourself with Obama, Obama does not go on more than 5 overseas trips in a year, you yourself embark on weekly trips. In 50 weeks in a year you have left the country 50 times. You have failed to tackle corruption, the roads are in a worst state than when you came to power, the hospitals are, dare I say, mere discussion structures. Mr President, Pensioners are dying in great numbers because you are not there to enforce the payment of their pensions. Mr ABSENT president, you had my vote in 2011, but in 2015 my vote will go to even a fool if he is be willing to stay at home and face the problems in the country. You have proven yourself to be no different from the ineffective presidents in the past. You are worst than them because you have refused to stay at home and serve the voters that elected you into office, but embark on stupid foreign trips to serve your ego and the overseas people that did not vote for you..

Hauwa Ashafa

Indeed, in yr dreams.

TEZ Finance

keep dreaming. At the mention of your name, every evil and Badluck has always befallen Nigeria. Idiot!